What is leadership?

A leader is someone who knows how to read his/her environment, signals the group for action, direct as well as participate in collective action !

What does "leadership" mean to me? I believe there are many kinds of leadership styles as well as many types of leaders. Leadership is basically a function of the interaction with a group, as well as its environment. Leadership can be formal, informal, structured and unstructured. 

I spent four years working in a school setting where the topic of leadership was much discussed. Can everyone be a leader? How do one develop leadership?  In fact, we discussed and suggested that there are 3 aspects to good leadership, namely

Purpose: A leader need to be purposeful and provide a compelling vision and mission. With a purpose that is noble and worthy, he/she can win the support of others.  But if the purpose is warped or self-serving, even if he/she can lead a group,community,nation, he/she is still not a "good" leader.

Competencies: A leader need have the skills and knowledge to fulfil his/her roles as a leader, be it emotional intelligence, communications skills, analytical skills, domain knowledge etc

Values: A leader need to have principled values, be it honesty, integrity, moral courage etc. Think Hilter and TT Durai (of NKF saga)

Any leader, if lacking in any of the 3 aspects, may still be an effective leader but may not be a good leader. e.g think a mafia boss who inspires his/her followers, who proved to be dedicated and loyal but his/her "purpose" is not noble.

Having said all these, I think the above discussion generally centred on individuals being a focus of leadership.  I also believe in group leadership i.e leadership evolve and is a function of the group, be it focus on an individual, a core committee or the entire group. This means that not only the person labelled as the leader can provide leadership for the group, each member of the group can also provide leadership for the group. E.g. He/She can influence and give inputs to discussion that can steer the group to a direction where effective leadership would have directed. I think this is called "leadership from the ground up"?

Leadership is needed for an effective team/group/community to pursue a particular cause or achieve a certain objective.  Leadership is needed in society and and if I can reflect and improve upon my leadership "skills", I can influence and direct/motivate/encourage/inspire any community I am part of.  For leadership to be sustainable, I think "transformational" leadership come into play.  If  the form of leadership that I exercise helps to facilitate the leaders in others around me, the group would overall becomes more effective.

I think leadership first begin with self-awareness including one's values, then develop abilities to be aware of the environment, including people, and then acquire competencies etc.